Last week my grandchildren, Maddie and Jack, were in an out-of-school production of Cinderella.  My wife, Maddie’s and Jack’s parents, and I were delighted and grateful that first grader Jack’s teacher came to the evening

Despite being responsible for a one-star review at my workplace that states “the little redhead behind the counter is rude,” I am a very good employee. I promise. The cruel reality about customer service jobs

Ever since things have gone back to almost-but-not-quite normal, I’ve had this overwhelming feeling that I’m not doing enough. It’s almost become a mantra in my head, the words repeating over and over, “You’re not

As we begin another semester of COVID-19-related uncertainty and instability, it serves us to put things in a less judgmental, self-deprecating perspective for those times when we come up short. One rhetorical trick often used

A perfect version of me lies out there somewhere. His limbs are more outstretched than mine, landing his shiny head of hair at the 6’ mark. Where a shallow valley gapes between my eyes, a

By 2005, when Angela Merkel became the first female chancellor of Germany, she had already amassed years of successful leadership at different levels of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. She had nothing to prove.

As the semester started and junior year summer internships came to a close, the sellout season promptly began. Exciting offers from top tech, consulting, and finance companies filled my LinkedIn feed. I began to comment

In my senior year of high school, amid college admissions anxiety and clearly defined cliques, I learned a difficult lesson. Most of my friends were not actually my friends. After social upheaval in my senior

Last year, many professors faced a difficult decision: How would they make sure students were given a fair chance when taking exams remotely? For a politics course I took in the fall semester, the professor